The Tampa Bay Lightning scored late and beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 to take a 2-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final. Cedric Paquette broke the 2-2 tie with 3:11 left to play to seal the win for the away team.

Like the first two games, the Lightning were the first to put a puck into the opposing team’s goal.

Just 5:09 into the first period, the hulking, skilled Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman snapped the puck almost the length of the ice to an unaccounted-for Ryan Callahan, who drove a bullet of a shot past Corey Crawford. The sound of the puck first hitting the crossbar before settling beyond the goal line probably sent ripples across Lake Michigan.

It was right after the goal that Chicago seemed to wake up from their daze. After missing two open nets and gathering the majority of the scoring chances, it took a Braydon Couburn hooking penalty for the Blackhawks to get the equalizer.

Veteran forward Brad Richards, with Andrew Shaw screening in front as he so often does, shot the puck through Ben Bishop’s glove.

Despite the even score, the ice was tilted entirely in the favor of the Blackhawks in the first. It was almost Sisyphean watching the Lightning struggle to get the puck out of their own end only to have it come right back again. At the end of the period, the Blackhawks had the advantage in total shots by a tally of 19-7, which included a 10-minute period without a single shot attempt for the Lightning.

The play of Bishop – plagued by a mystery something that nobody will comment on or acknowledge in coy sports fashion – was also on notice for everyone. He struggled to keep his rebounds from spinning out of control and the Blackhawks goal beat him cleanly on the glove side.

His play brought a multitude of questions about his health. Many were shocked to see, as the teams entered the ice to start the second period, that Bishop was still in the game. He missed time in game two, but through the first two periods he would stay in goal, sometimes laboring.

The drama between the crease for the Lightning was almost a more compelling storyline than the game being played out on the rest of the ice. Despite injury concerns, Jon Cooper told NBC between periods that Bishop was fine and the reason he looked like he was moving slowly could be attributed to his height. Fair enough.

It was a scary moment though, with about five minutes left in the period, when Brandon Saad’s gloves made contact with the side of Bishop’s head, causing him to lay prostrate on the ice momentarily. He would ,again, remain in the game.

The penalty would drop the Blackhawks into a two-player hole, but they were able to kill of the subsequent two-man disadvantage, bringing the crowd to their feet as the second period came to a close, still knotting tightly at a goal apiece.

In the third period, to no one’s surprise, Bishop skated out to take his crease. He became stronger and moved better as the game went on, ultimately making 36 saves in the win. The second Blackhawks goal, unlike the first, could not be laid on Bishop’s shoulder.

“You could tell from this game that he’s not struggling one bit,” Hedman told NBC after the game. “We’re confident if [Bishop] is back there.”

Less than five minutes into the period, the Blackhawks got the matchup they wanted and some pretty passing and a pinpoint accurate finish from Saad gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead.

Before Blackhawks fans could even sit down and the echoes of the goal song left the arena, that lead would vanish.

“We faced that situation many times throughout the year,” Hedman said of going down in the third period to NBC after the game. “It was obviously a big answer for us.”

The genesis of a goal usually feels innocent, which was the case when the Lightning tied it. The puck was chipped deep, players crowded in front and Crawford’s inability to cover a loose puck resulted in an opportunity for Ondrej Palat, who whacked the puck past the extended right pad of the Blackhawks’ goaltender.

The game winner felt no different.

Hedman – only 24 and fast becoming a star in the league – pulled some nifty stick handling and flipped the puck to Cedric Paquette who really only had to redirect the puck past a helpless Crawford.

The pretty play and pure talent from Hedman had even his team-mates wondering how it happened. “Where do you find those plays man?” Anton Stralman, Hedman’s defense partner said after the game.

Hedman was the story in game three and has been for quite some time now. Cooper touched on it prior to the game. “For me, this is his coming out party,” Cooper said. “He’s played this well for us for a long time. We just haven’t had this for everybody to watch … He’s a top-tier defenseman in this league. It’s why we’re here.”

After the game, Cooper said Hedman was “a monster out there.”

“To be honest, he’s pretty much got free rein with me,” Cooper said. “Victor Hedman has arrived.”

This series has had a feel that neither team has played their best hockey with the exception of brief stretches. It doesn’t matter now, as three games are part of the record book and there’s no changing the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning, with two games left at home and two on the road, have a 2-1 series lead.

Game four will be in Chicago on Wednesday night with puck drop set for 8pm.